Category Archives: Review

by Craig Vanderslice | August 6, 2023 · 9:12 am

A Couple Black Label Trading Co. Cigars and a Visit to The Leaf in Easton, PA

Yesterday we took a drive up to Easton to the “Jerry Garcia Birthday Bash” at Famous Smoke Shop/Leaf Cigar Bar in Easton, PA. We wore our tie dye and got a 15% discount, so I picked up some new stuff from Black Label Trading Company that I have been looking forward to trying. I was a little surprised that they didn’t have more new stuff available, but it is what it is. I also picked up some more West Tampa Red Toros, because, ya know, ya gotta support your friends and they are great cigars. I started out with the new La Madonna Negra in the 5½ x 50 size. I bought this in two sizes, the 5½ x 50 and the 5″ x 54, honestly thinking I was getting a robusto and a corona gorda, because they are box pressed and I really wasn’t paying that much attention. This is Black Label’s 10th anniversary cigar, and it’s a good one. It comes in three vitolas, all in the robusto family as far as I’m concerned (the third being a 4½” x 48), has a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, Ecuador Habano binder and fillers from Nicaragua and Pennsylvania. I like a great many of the BLTC cigars, but I’m going to be very honest, there is a common theme throughout, again, one I like a lot. It’s the dark, cocoa/coffee flavors that are in my wheelhouse that appeal to me, and I can really just pick up any Black Label cigar and enjoy it. This was no different. I really enjoyed it sitting outside the Leaf Cigar Bar at Famous Smoke Shop, watching the band Single Yesterday play their set. The La Madonna Negra was excellent, loads of flavor with a little extra special PA Seedleaf spice perhaps. I dig it and have a few more to smoke, and I doubt I’ll have them around long. It was nice to see Gary Korb there, a day after eye surgery! (best wishes with that Gary!), and Juan Cancel made an appearance as we were leaving. With the exception of my wife having trouble getting service at the bar, it wasn’t a bad time! On the way home we stopped in to New Tobacco Village in Whitelhall, PA. This is a very warm and inviting little shop with a very nice selection! I’d love to get back to have a smoke with John and Lina one of these days.

When I got home I decided to smoke the new Black Label Trading Co. core line Santa Muerte in what they are incorrectly calling a Petite Lancero, but is more of a lonsdale at 6½” x 42. If it had been a 38 ring gauge I would have bought the lancero name, but not at 42. I think I’ve seen cigars this size called Corona Extra too, I guess technically a Lonsdale would be a 43 ring. A Lancero it ain’t. A really good cigar, it is, for many of the same reasons stated in the paragraph above. This one has an Ecuador Habano wrapper, Ecuador binder, and a filler blend from Nicaragua, Dominican Republic and Mexico. I suppose it has a bit brighter flavor than the La Madona, however the signature is still there. BLTC cigars are like Roma craft and Tatuaje cigars to me. I’d smoke them all the time If I had a steady supply, at a really great price. When I have them, I smoke them, and enjoy them. I’d love to get back to Nicaragua one day and visit Oveja Negra (and Nica Sueño while I’m there), I think that would be a good time.

I think that’s all I have for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Black Label Trading Company, cigar, cigars, Famous Smoke Shop, La Madona Negra, Leaf Cigar Bar, Santa Muerte

by Craig Vanderslice | August 1, 2023 · 9:11 pm

Romeo y Julieta Devocion Lust Toro Cigars

A few weeks ago the folks at Cigars.com sent me some of their exclusive Romeo y Julieta Devoción Lust Series Toros to try, and try them I did. I’ve been hot and cold with Romeo y Julieta cigars over the years. Of course, it’s one of the best selling brands out there, and there have been some I’ve enjoyed, and I’ve had a sentimental attachment to the brand, as it was the brand I had to commemorate my daughter’s wedding nearly 16 years ago. I like to try Romeo y Julietas when they come along, and there have been some I’ve enjoyed. This one is made in Honduras, where the post-revolution Romeos were made. It has an Ecuador Connecticut wrapper that is a nice, light brown. The binder and fillers are all Honduran.

I first thought that this was a mild cigar, but it must have been what I had eaten or something, because subsequent examples were far more flavorful, and solidly medium bodied. Of course, there’s a creaminess, with some leather and nuts. There’s also a nice Café con leche sort of flavor. I take my coffee black, but I’ve had Café con leche when there was nothing else offered. The several cigars I smoked all burned perfectly and were quite enjoyable. If you have an interest in trying these, or anything else from Cigars.com, you can use CCRAIG10 for a discount, and click though the link on the left side of this page to get to the site (it’s an affiliate link, which I, historically haven’t had a lot of luck with, please help me turn that around!). The Romeo y Julieta Devoción Lust Series is a tasty cigar.

That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by Craig Vanderslice | July 30, 2023 · 10:40 am

Cohiba HVC Black Friday, Reinado and Iron Pigs, Bacon and Flying Pig Cigars

We went to a baseball game last night, but more on that later, lets recap a few cigars I smoked earlier in the week. At the Atlantic City Cigar Festival I saw an old friend, Sean Williams, who was handing out Cohiba Rivieras at his booth. I met Sean back around 2011, I think, at the Delaware Cigar Festival, or the IPCPR show, I forget which. I do remember seeing him at the IPCPR show and he introduced me to his friend Willy Herrera, who was helping him blend some of his cigars at the time. I hadn’t tried this Cohiba Riviera, so Thursday seemed like a good enough day to smoke one. This is the first Box pressed “red dot” Cohiba, and the first that doesn’t have any Dominican tobacco. It has a San Andrés wrapper (another Cohiba first), Honduran Connecticut binder (broadleaf?) and fillers from Jamastran, and La Entrada in Honduras and Condega and Esteli in Nicaragua. The Robusto I had is 5″ x 52, the box press makes it feel small, which is probably why it took me awhile to get around to smoking it. This smoked very well, as one would expect a $20 cigar to smoke. It tasted much like one would expect a Honduran/Nicaraguan blend with a Mexican wrapper to taste, which, to me, was quite good, with rich, earthy coffee, cocoa, espresso, etc. notes. I rather enjoyed it. As with most things in the “luxury” segment, be it food, cars, watches, I’m not the target audience. I’m a low frills kind of guy, but I do appreciate it, there’s just more affordable luxuries I appreciate as much.

I had picked up a HVC Black Friday 2022 a few weeks ago, I had smoked the Firecracker and maybe one other iteration of the Black Friday series ( I think the 2021) and enjoyed it. This is the first of the series that is made in Fábrica de Tabacos HVC S.A. de Reinier Lorenzo as opposed to Aganorsa, although I can’t say I noticed any quality difference. I would have liked it if my example had been a tad drier, which is the fault of my humidors, I guess. The tobaccos in this may need to be stored with less humidity, or dry boxed, I don’t know, most cigars burn fine out of my humidors, every now and then one is weird. My fault for not being as diligent with my Humidimeter as I should be! The Black Friday has an Ecuador Habano wrapper and the rest is from Jalapa and Esteli with, apparently, no ligero. It was on the medium side, with nice, nutty flavors and some syrupy sweetness. It was a hot and humid evening, which may have added to my issues, also not a great time for a nicotine-heavy cigar for me! I’ll try again with some dry down time.

I was up obnoxiously early yesterday morning so I pretty much went from bed, to the coffeemaker to the porch and lit up a Reinado Connecticut C29 that Antonio Lam had given me when I saw him at the aforementioned AC Cigar Fest. Before I go on, I’d like to mention that as I type I’m smoking an El Güegüense that was from the original release (probably a 2016 trade show sample) that is simply divine. I don’t think I appreciated this blend as much then as I do at this very moment, whether it’s the age on this cigar, the beautiful morning, or what. It’s creamy, it’s got a hint of light spice, it’s just perfection. What made my think about that, besides being distracted by the smoke, was that I had the same thought yesterday morning as I sat in the dawning hours of the day, as the sun came up, enjoying the Reinado C29. The details of this. cigar are veiled in secrecy, obviously it has a Connecticut wrapper, Ecuadoran would be my guess, and it wouldn’t surprise me if it’s made at Aganorsa, like his Grand Apex (which is also exceptional). I have trouble loving a lot of Aganorsa cigars, however, Antonio’s cigars I do love, and if the C29 is made there, it’s one more I really loved. It was creamy, plenty of flavor, and burned perfectly. It was a great cigar to smoke on a quiet morning unencumbered by distractions.

Last night some friends treated up to a baseball game in Allentown, PA. The Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs are the Philadelphia Phillies Triple A farm team, and the upside is that they have a heavy bacon-centric theme. We snacked on chocolate covered bacon and skewered candied bacon, but sadly they were out of the bacon cannolis. Between innings they had races with people dressed as various pork based meats, and the players uniforms had Bacon emblazoned across the front. Fred Rewey would have been severely overstimulated. I misunderstood the team name and wore a Flying Pig shirt, and smoked a Kentucky Fire Cured Flying Pig on the ride home, as Coca Cola Stadium is non-smoking. When I first smoked the KFC at Cigar Safari 10 years ago I didn’t like it at all, it was too “campfire” for me. This Flying Pig, and I don’t remember where I got them, or how long I’ve had them, was very good, it had some nice sweet woodiness. I can’t recommend smoking a 4″ x 60 in a dark, stick shift car, though, that was less than ideal, but it was a good smoke, and it was a really fun game, with fireworks after the game. I’m not a baseball fan, and I’m confused by some of the new rules, but it’s nostalgic, I went to a lot of games as a kid, and I always enjoyed minor league games for the entertainment value.

There’s a lot coming up this week. Tonight, if you are in the Limerick, PA area, stop by Goose’s and see my friend Mike Kropp perform at the Goose Pond. Next Saturday, August 5, at the Leaf Cigar Bar in Easton, PA celebrate Jerry Garcia’s Birthday with live music at 3. Delaware Cigar Week kicks off on Thursday, August 3th with a schedule of events running through Sunday. Could be a busy weekend!

That’s all for today! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Bacon, Black Friday, C29, cigar, cigars, cohiba, Flying Pig, HVC, Iron Pigs, Kentucky Fire Cured, Reinado, Riviera

by Craig Vanderslice | July 23, 2023 · 9:22 am

Romeo y Julieta, La Gloria Cubana and Diesel Cigars

Summer is whizzing by way too fast for my liking. I’ve been enjoying a lot more cigars, three of which were just yesterday, which I plan to tell you about! I started the day with a Romeo y Julieta Reserva Real Twisted Love Story. This came to me in a sampler of barber pole style cigars I bought from Fox Cigars, I had set this small cigar aside for an appropriate time, and that time came yesterday morning. It was a toss up between this and a Rojas Breakfast Taco Maduro, but I kinda remember the Sumatra Breakfast Taco being a bit of a powerhouse, and I wasn’t feeling like a strong cigar yesterday morning. I wondered in a previous post how Altadis got away with making a cigar this shape with the name “story” attached to it, because it’s very close to the same size as the Hemingway Short Story, although it’s a few ring gauges slimmer at 4″ x 46 as opposed to 49. The Romeo has Ecuadorian Connecticut & Habano wrappers, Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan and Dominican fillers. It’s a very pretty little perfecto. It started off with some bitterness for me, until it burned past the “nipple”, then it smoothed out and had some nice butter and spice. It was pretty good, but I liked the toro presentation better. I think it smoked for nearly an hour, which is pretty good for a little cigar.

I had a couple other cigars lined up that I was going to write about, but then I was out running errands and stopped in my nearest cigar store and picked up a few cigars I hadn’t smoked before. This store honestly didn’t have much in the way of new stuff, but they are a TAA store, so I picked up the La Gloria Cubana 2023 TAA Exclusive, a 7½” x 54 double corona. If the size sounds familiar, it’s the same size as the Hoya de Monterrey Excalibur No.1 (and the SakaKahn). You might be saying ” but CigarCraig, La Glorias are made in the DR, and Excaliburs are made in Honduras, what the heck?”, but it seems that this La Gloria was made in the STG Danli factory back in 2019 and have been aging there. Weird, huh? This cigar has a Ecuador Sumatra wrapper with a Honduran Habano binder and Fillers from Honduras and the DR. The wrapper is very dark, verging on maduro. While I didn’t find this cigar very La Gloria like (and with all the various iterations of the brand, I don’t know what that means any more), I really like the cigar, and feel compelled to pick a few more up to add to the La Gloria humidor for later consumption. It had dark dried fruit and espresso tones, bittersweet chocolate, and wasn’t without some strength. It was amongst the better La Glorias I’ve had in recent years.

Another cigar I picked up was another TAA cigar from the Forged portfolio, the Diesel Disciple 2021 TAA Lancero. Considering it wasn’t long ago that Diesel was a catalog brand, it’s interesting that the top of the top (in their eyes, i imagine) retailers are getting a Diesel exclusive. In keeping with the Diesel line, this was pretty fairly priced at $8.99, and is a 7″ x 38 panatela, no pigtail cap. The cigar has a San Andrés wrapper, Ecuador Sumatra binder and Nicaraguan Habano fillers and is made at Tabacalera AJ Fernandez. I’ll state my opinion like I do every time I smoke a Lancero, this wrapper/filler ratio thing is a myth, the reason Lanceros have a sharper, stronger flavor is because the burn hotter due to the smaller ring gauge. Smoke a Lancero slowly, sip the smoke, it’s a very elegant presentation. If it’s drawn upon at the same pressure as one would draw on a rubusto or toro it’s going to burn hot and the flavor is going to seem sharper. I’ve learned this by sitting at the feet of masters. Anyway, I smoked this while watching one of my favorite shows (the Grand Tour on Amazon Prime) on the porch and it was delicious. Dark, strong espresso with some sweet earthiness. The burn and draw was perfect and it was quite enjoyable. I don’t know how many of these are still out in the wild, I know there are still at least nine of them at the store near me, but if you come across them, and you like Diesels and Lanceros, give one a try.

That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, diesel, Disciple, La Gloria Cubana, Reserva Real, romeo y julieta, TAA, Twisted Love Story

by Craig Vanderslice | July 16, 2023 · 10:14 am

Some Blackbird Cigars and Some Villiger Cigars

I had a different idea of what today’s post was going to be, but that plan changed at the last minute. To be honest, the plan was tentative, at best. I’ve got some new and not so new cigars to talk about this week, lets start with the not so new, but great cigars. When I went to the TPE show in 2020, right before the world shut down, I met Jonas Santana and his crew from Blackbird Cigars. Jonas flattered me by knowing who I was, after 4 years of doing this it still takes me aback. Jonas had worked for Artista (then El Artista) who I had been working with, so he was familiar with my work. I’ve kept up with Jonas over the years and while this old white dude may not be able to keep up with a young, hip-hop cat, we connect on the cigar level, I dig his smokes. The Crow is my main jam, but this week I decided to take a wander through the range again as it’s been too long. What prompted this was one of my wife’s cigar band furniture projects, which required a bunch more Blackbird bands! So I had to by more cigars. I picked up some Toro singles locally, and bought a Robusto sampler from my friends at Trash Panda Cigars. Let’s talk about the Cuco first. This is probably the last cigar I’d go to because it has Criollo on the band and that tobacco usually doesn’t work for me. This is listed as a Brazilian wrapper, Indonesian binder and Dominican fillers, so I imagine it’s a Brazilian Criollo wrapper, perhaps that makes the difference for me, because I quite enjoyed this cigar in both Robusto and Gran Toro vitolas. It’s medium bodied with some cocoa and a hint of spice. very nice cigars.

The Finch from Blackbird is one of two Sumatra wrapped cigars in the portfolio, the other being the Rook. The Finch is only available in the Robusto size, has an Indonesian binder and US and Dominican fillers. It’s just me, but I think if I were going to have one cigar in my lineup that was just a robusto, I might call it the Rook, thinking like the chess piece, but I suppose finches are small birds so I get it. It’s a bird themed line, not a chess themed line, what am I thinking? I guess what I’m thinking is that while I really enjoyed the Finch I forgot to take any notes, so I don’t really have anything to say about it except that I found it quite enjoyable and it makes me want to pick up a few more. I do recall a bit of the sugar cane I get from Sumatra sometimes, along with a sweet spice, perhaps from whatever US tobacco (PA maybe?). Good smoke. As I type, I’m smoking the Unkind in Robusto, which has a dark Cubra (Brazil) wrapper and works exceptionally well with my black coffee. Even the shade Jackdaw has some pop to it and is quite tasty. It’s hard to go wrong with the Blackbird line, Jonas is doing some great things at his factory in the DR.

A few weeks ago I received a few new cigars from the folks at Villiger Cigars. I’ve had a very long history with Villiger. If you dig through my site (or YouTube channel), you’ll find interviews going back to 2012 I think. They have gone through some transitions, probably made some mis-steps, but they’ve always made good cigars. A few years ago they brought on René Casteñeda to head North American sales. René was previously with Miami Cigar and Co. and La Aurora, and is a super-nice guy. The Villiger Miami started out as a cigar for him to have to share with his friends and visitors to his office. It’s made in their ABAM factory in the DR, where they make Flor de Ynclan and a ton of cigar for the European market. Last year they put this out in a Lancero, this year it was released in a toro format. It has an Ecuador Habano wrapper, undisclosed binder and fillers, except that they say there is some Peruvian leaf in the filler blend. This is a really nice, complex blend, with some delicate flavors. It’s one of those cigars that you want to think about while you smoke it. I got a little citrus tang, with some nuts, light coffee, and a hint of cocoa.

Finally, I smoked the Villiger 1888 Nicaragua in both the Toro and Robusto. The 1888 was the first premium cigar that Villiger made back in 2009, and it was reissued around 2017 with updated blend and branding, made in the Dominican Republic. The 1888 Nicaraguan is made in the Villiger de Nicaragua factory, which in my imagination is somehow a part of the Joya de Nicaragua factory. I could ask around and verify this I suppose, but that seems like work. The cigar has an Ecuador Sumatra wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan and Pennsylvanian fillers. I’m generally partial to cigars with PA tobacco, considering it’s grown within an hour from my home, and I tend to like Sumatra. This was a Medium bodied cigar in both vitolas, and had some sweet coffee/cocoa flavors. I don’t recall favoring one size over the other, but almost always like a toro over a robusto. I have a corona yet to try, but I expect that to have slightly sharper flavors.